New York Post Features Baldwin Basketball
Excerpt from article:
They put the “win” in Baldwin.
The Nassau school’s girls and boys basketball teams have much to look forward to in the 2025-26 campaign after the Lady Bruins took home a state title and the fellas won the Long Island championship last season.
“Every day, we talk about going back-to-back,” senior forward Leah Williams told The Post.
“Last year definitely taught me that it starts right now. It doesn’t start in March.”
Williams attributes the local powerhouse’s perfect ending — a thrilling 50-48 defeat of Aquinas Institute of Rochester — to the senior leadership initiative that the team lacked in 2023, which led to its loss in the counties that year.
“We knew we needed people to step up,” said 12th-grade guard Alyssa Polonia.
It quickly worked, as a tremendous bond formed among the team as Williams said, “The seniors became my best friends,” who had her back through thick and thin.
“They were really close to me, and whenever I have something going on in my personal life, I would always lean on them, and they would always be there,” she said.
A key to the girls’ success was not only seniors leading by example and through camaraderie, but also keeping things light on the court.
“It didn’t feel too serious; they kind of took the pressure off,” added Polonia.
“I was having fun with it at the same time.”